1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a system for determining a cooking time for a convection oven based on a user inputted time for a conventional cooking process.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The art of cooking is currently undergoing substantial change. It is no longer the norm to have a family member home all day with time to cook and prepare meals. Today, more and more consumers must rush home from work to prepare meals for themselves or for their families. In today""s fast paced society, time is of the essence. The luxury of spending time in preparing a meal is becoming less and less affordable. As such, consumers demand an oven that will cook a meal in less time than conventional ovens, without sacrificing the quality of the prepared food. In order to meet these demands, manufacturers are combining conventional radiant cooking systems with the rapid cook advantages of convection, microwave, and other types of cooking systems.
However, the problem with designing an oven capable of rapidly and effectively cooking a food item is exacerbated by the wide array of consumer tastes. No single cooking process lends itself to efficiently cook the wide variety of food items desired by consumers. For example, while conventional radiant cooking is suitable to a wide assortment of food types, the overall cooking process, especially baking, can be quite slow. The pre-heat time, combined with the cook time, is longer than most businesses or consumers desire.
Microwave ovens, on the other hand, are capable of performing a rapid cooking operation. Unfortunately, the types of food items and cooking processes found to be suitable for microwave cooking are limited. For instance, microwaves, by themselves, are often not suitable for baking or for preparing food items which require a crunchy texture. Yet another method of rapidly cooking a food item is through forced air convection. Forced air convection allows for cooking at lower temperatures as compared to conventional radiant cooking processes. The forced air streams serve to disrupt a thermal insulation layer about the food item which increases the heat transfer rate between the food item and its surroundings.
It is considered that a design incorporating a forced air convection system capable of performing both convection and standard radiant bake cooking can enable an appetizing meal to be prepared in a short time period. The prior art has many examples of ovens which combine several types of cooking processes. However, most are limited in the types of cooking processes performed. In addition, since the use of the convection cooking reduces the overall cook time, consideration has to given to establishing a suitable cooking period. That is, regardless of the fact that rapid cook systems are becoming more well known, available recipes generally only provide cook time information based on conventional radiant cooking. This fact places a burden on the user to either calculate a time for convection cooking based on the conventional cook time provided or periodically check the food to prevent over-cooking. Either situation is considered less than ideal.
To address this concern, it has been proposed in the art of rapid cooking systems to employ an automatic time conversion arrangement. In such an arrangement, a controller of a rapid cooking appliance would automatically deduct a certain percentage or time value from a user set period of time. That is, the controller would assume that the user is inputting a time based on a conventional cooking operation and automatically deducts a percentage of the time to establish a rapid cook time period. Most often, the percentage utilized is fixed and consistently applied. However, the percentage can vary based on selected food groups. Regardless, the time reduction is universally performed whenever a rapid cook operation is selected.
Although this arrangement works well in connection with cooking various foods, the system is not considered to work well when universally applied in the manner set forth in accordance with the known prior art. Accordingly, based on at least these reasons, there still exists a need in the art for a rapid cooking appliance adapted to more effectively address differences between an inputted conventional cook time period and a rapid cook time period, at least under appropriate circumstances, to effectively perform a variety of cooking processes for a wide range of foods.
The present invention is directed to a cooking appliance including both conventional radiant cooking techniques and rapid cook technology, preferably a cooking appliance employing both radiant and convection cooking systems. The preferred form of the invention concerns a combination radiant and convection cooking appliance incorporating a controller which allows a user to enter standard cooking times for convection cooking without the need to calculate convection cook times. Thereafter, the cooking appliance of the invention calculates a reduced convection time from the standard cooking time entered and utilizes this reduced convection time in connection with the overall cooking operation as set forth below.
In accordance with the one preferred form of the invention, after a user enters a standard radiant cooking time into a control panel, an electronic controller subtracts 25% off of the standard time. This reduced time is then shown in a display provided in the control panel. The controller will use this time as the actual cook time for the cycle. However, in order to assure food quality, this method is only employed in relatively long convection cooking cycles, such as a convection roasting mode. In accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the invention, the reduced cook time is calculated, but the controller allows the cooking appliance to perform the cooking operation based on the standard cooking time entered by the user. However, after 75% of that time has elapsed, the user is signaled, such as through a message on the display and an audible beep or the like. Therefore, the user is prompted to check the food when a majority of the standard cooking time has elapsed to prevent potential over-cooking.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.